Needs Better Reason to Upgrade

[SeanHayes]

The free version has been so useful I bought a paid plan, but honestly I don't feel like I really needed to since i haven't been bumping up against any usage limits. It's a great product and I'd like to see it go the distance, so thought I'd share this feedback.

Maybe there's some features I'm not aware of yet that Pieces could recommend to me base don my activity?

[DeRerumPrincipia]

Yup, they literally shut themselves in the foot, which is extremely sad given that their download numbers have always been extremely low. As most everyone else was closing down their free offerings, they really should have opened their doors even wider instead of shutting them down.

I get that they have a heavy issue with lacking capital. The capital raised listed on their website is extremely low. They should have reached out to their users for help. I would have helped them with their books (to raise their assets and capital, making future acquisition of working capital much easier), for example, even if I can't actually provide monetary support. I'm sure others that see the value in their quixotic attempt would have also done what they could.

If the situation really was that dire, they could have used concurrency as the solution instead of blocking any useful model. But maybe, just maybe, this will nudge them towards rethinking the approach. They could have used the vision and audio modalities too. That blend would have been of great appeal to some corporates; let's be honest, this is really a business application as it stands now, for the most part, or a tool for some self-reflection if so inclined.

[mark-at-pieces]

Hey @SeanHayes and @DeRerumPrincipia — thanks so much for this discussion, this is exactly the kind of feedback we love to see and I wanted to jump in personally.

@SeanHayes — that means a lot, genuinely. The fact that you chose to support us even before you felt "forced" to is something we don't take lightly. Your question about surfacing relevant paid features based on your activity is a great one and honestly something we're actively thinking about. More on that below.

@DeRerumPrincipia — I appreciate the candor, though I do want to gently push back on a couple of things. We're not in a capital crunch — we're in a good position and continuing to invest heavily in the product. And just to clarify, our download numbers are something we keep close to the chest, so any figures floating around out there aren't coming from us.

On the paywall question — the reason our best models sit behind a paid plan isn't usage limits or rate limiting. We made a deliberate choice not to throttle or cap our users based on consumption. Instead, we paywall access to the most powerful models outright, because giving unlimited access to those at the free tier isn't sustainable. We'd rather be honest about that than nickel-and-dime people with token caps.

As for what's coming on the paid side — I'm genuinely excited about this. We have agent mode in the works, as well as shared memories — both of which we think will make Pieces significantly more powerful for the people who rely on it daily. These are the kinds of features that I think will make the upgrade feel like a clear yes.

I'm always open to feedback, always reading these threads, and if either of you ever want to go deeper on anything — product direction, pricing philosophy, whatever's on your mind — I'm happy to jump on a support call. Just say the word.

Thanks again for caring enough to post. This is exactly the kind of conversation that helps us build something better.

— Mark Widman, CTO @ Pieces